Critchfield Speedboats ?

[JBS]

Anybody here remember them?

[OLEGATOR]

Anybody here remember them?

80 years old and been knowing bill since i was a kid. was working for him when i was drafted in '65. raced his boats, watched danny grow up and become a boat builder, had danny build me a boat, was devastated when he lost his life.

[XstreamVking]

Had a 15’ needle nose with an 85xs on it. Wasn’t fast enough so installed a 150xs on it. Ran good then. Was a good little boat that rode fairly well for its size. Had 3 strakes per side and a flat pad keel.

[JBS]

Yep,a good bud had Danny build the LTV. Good boat. That was probably close to the last boat built before the fatal accident. I was planning to have him build an 18V.

[65gamblerman]

Raced against Danny many times back in the day. He was a tough competitor.

[mr fun]

All the above , and a just a really nice person. Ole Gator told me that when he worked for the Sr. they built the first pad V bottom, put that in your pipe and smoke it .

[JBS]

I remember some of the races he completed in N. Fla. I went to the shop a couple of times to discuss a build. Back then, I think a 18 V or TV was less than 5k out the door. He built a good, fast boat.

[OLEGATOR]

All the above , and a just a really nice person. Ole Gator told me that when he worked for the Sr. they built the first pad V bottom, put that in your pipe and smoke it .

not exactly rite, mr fun. what i told you was ONE OF THE FIRST pad vee bottoms. most people say allison built the first. only GOD knows the real truth. the first allison i saw with pad was at jacksonville late 1967, after i got out of army. i had heard about allison's pad while in army. the first pad vee i saw was in mobile, al at a race during marti gras 1965. i was driving for bill in 100hp class. we had won a lot with this rig, but i got blistered that day. the boat that did it was a boat built by richmond kennedy from destin, fl. richmond, bill, and i were friends. i was working for bill at this time, so first thing monday morning, i told bill what had happened at race. the very next saturday, bill and i met at the shop and started building a new boat out of wood. i had no measurements to go by so i told bill what i could about the boat that beat me. we finished the boat the following weekend. it ran soooo good that we built another one and shortened it to 13' rather than 15' as i also ran another rig in the 50hp class. both rigs rann real good all year until i got drafted in december of '65. while i was in army, bill pulled mold off 15' which became the NEEDLE NOSE. THIS IS WHAT I KNOW, THIS IS NOT HEARSAY.

[XstreamVking]

Th 15’ I had was a former race boat. I think it is was a 1969. I got it in 1975? Guy named Doyle McIver ran it with an 85xs. Had a name “cold turkey” on the transom. I went from the critch to an Allison 15’ and mounted the 150xs on it. At the time a Viper with a 150xs was the fastest river racer around. The alli would run with the vipers but the critch could not due to being heavier I believe.

[mr fun]

Well there you go , little history lesson Boys and Girls

now are you ready for the quiz ,

[JBS]

I got interested in boat racing and performance boats in the early 80s. Prior to the mod vp years,most of the Critchfields I remember were Allison splashes?

[Noah Burns]

Yep,a good bud had Danny build the LTV. Good boat. That was probably close to the last boat built before the fatal accident. I was planning to have him build an 18V.

LTV? Critchfield did not make the LTV, their tunnel v was not a copy of it either it.

[David]

they are still racing 13' Critchfields in my neighborhood.

There was a race June 22 half an hour north from me - I was not smart enough to attend

Seven boats showed up at Gravenhurst.
Kristian has a small points lead over Rob Gordon after the weekend races
Critchfield ( from Top Gun Marine) and a Florida Allison were top runners this weekend
Jesse Coulter ran a Top Gun Critchfield
Craig ran an original Danny Critchfield
Eric ran a Voodoo competition model built by Hydrostream Canada
Chris ran a Critchfield not sure who built it
Rusty ran a Marty Brodeur Critchfield

T850 Gravenhurst part of heat 1 Sunday June 2022 - YouTube